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Brexit talks: how the two teams line up – The Guardian

The Brits (from left to flags)

1 Tim Barrow was named as the UK’s EU ambassador in January, after the sudden departure of Ivan Rogers, who quit after challenging the government’s “ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking” on Brexit. Noted for his Savile Row suits and battered briefcase, Barrow was the bearer of the UK’s article 50 letter to EU leaders.

3 Oliver Robbins, permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU), is Davis’s right-hand man and will lead the technical heavy lifting during the talks. He also has national security credentials, having advised David Cameron on this issue.

4 Philip Rycroft is the second most senior civil servant at DExEU, charged with making sure that Brexit does not undermine the unity of the UK.

5 Glyn Williams leads immigration policy at the Home Office, where he is charged with devising the post-Brexit rules. He was involved in working on David Cameron’s “special status” deal in February 2016.

The EU team (from flags to right)

1 François Arbault, a French national, is a close confidant of the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, having worked for him in 2010-13. He is now charged with focusing on the movement of goods.

2 Philippe Bertrand is Barnier’s top specialist on the Brexit bill. He has long experience of the ritual haggling involved in negotiating EU budgets.

3 Georg Emil Riekeles is charged with keeping relations sweet between Barnier and the other EU institutions – notably the European council, which will take the ultimate decisions, and the European parliament, which has a veto on the Brexit deal.

4 Richard Szostak is the eyes and ears of European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. He works in Juncker’s personal office, where he leads on relations with non-EU countries, including Turkey and Switzerland.

UK appears to capitulate on sequencing on first day of Brexit talks – Politics live

5 Sabine Weyand is Barnier’s deputy and will be the linchpin of the EU’s team. A German political scientist who has also studied English literature, she is rated in Brussels for her mastery of technical detail and no-nonsense style.

6 Nicolas de la Grandville can often be seen standing discreetly on the sidelines at EU events. A former adviser to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, he is the European commission’s director of protocol.

7 Michel Barnier was well known in European capitals long before he was appointed as the EU’s Mr Brexit last summer. A former French foreign minister and EU commissioner, he infuriated City bankers when he was in charge of regulating financial services. Now his slogan is “keep calm and negotiate”.

8 Stéphanie Riso, a French national, was already working on the delicate task of mapping out the EU’s next seven-year budget when she was picked to join Barnier’s team. Filling the Brexit black hole in the EU’s finances is one of the biggest worries in Brussels.